[ale] [OT] Cars and licensing... (Was: Re: Well, this does nothing for the reputation of Linux)

[Michael B. Trausch]

On 07/22/2013 03:54 PM, Sparr wrote:
> No, I won't. As pointed out elsewhere in this thread, observing cross
> traffic stopping does NOT provide effective evidence that I am at a
> four-way flashing-red, *especially* in Atlanta which is the weirdest
> stop-for-flashing-yellow-lights city I've encountered.
>
> If I am at a flashing red light and both directions of cross traffic
> have stopped, is it "clear" for me to proceed? If I proceed in that
> situation, and one of the people who was stopped at a flashing yellow
> also proceeds, and we collide, who is at fault?

I don't understand.  The law is quite clear.

If you are at a flashing red light, you are to treat it as a stop sign. 
If the people on the other street(s) also have red lights, then all-way
stop rules apply, including its turn resolution protocol.  Fault applies
to the protocol violators in the event of collision.

If the people on the other street(s) have a yellow light, they are to
enter the intersection with caution.  Since you are to see a flashing
red as a stop sign, you have the time (two or three seconds is all you
need) to assess the situation and continue.  At least, I've not yet
arrived at an intersection where more than that was required when I was
faced with the blinking red (stop sign).

In either event, the first violator of the protocol is the one who is
cited, sometimes with others if there is a complex chain resulting.  If
people are stopping at a blinking yellow, then they have violated the
protocol.  The result of the protocol violation is going to be a
collision---it could be a rear-end (possibly chain) collision, or a
collision indirectly caused by the violator by falsely giving everyone
else the impression that it's a four-way stop and then they don't check
for themselves, and a multiple-access error occurs in the intersection,
or perhaps someone who knows what yellow means is entering the
intersection, but someone else assumes four-way-stop semantics, and
another form of multiple-access error thus occurs.  In the final
situation, the multiple-access fault is assigned to the driver who did
not assess the situation and assumed four-way semantics based on the
others' incorrect behavior.

It all really just boils down to "pay attention and know the protocol"
and all's well.

Unfortunately, the protocols people use to drive in metro Atlanta are...
well, they suffer significant protocol skew, and multiple-access errors
and collisions occur all over the place.  You can pretty much set your
clock by 'em.

    --- Mike

-- 
Naunet Corporation Logo 	Michael B. Trausch

President, *Naunet Corporation*
? (678) 287-0693 x130 or (888) 494-5810 x130

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